Light-fingered hotel guests make sure they get real value for money when they stay in the North, nicking anything that's not nailed down, even toilet paper.

A writing desk, conifer trees, bathroom taps, plastic crocodile, loo brushes and a cheese sandwich have all found their way into visitor's suitcases.

Pilfering punters have smuggled out everything from towels and toilet seats to travel cots and televisions.

And it seems that size is no object when it comes to taking a "souvenir".

A spokesman for Marriott, which has hotels all over the region, said: "In our Gateshead hotel, someone had checked out and the housekeeper went in to find two standard lamps, the pelmet and tie-backs missing. They'd kindly left the curtains though.

"And on one occasion someone made off with a writing bureau. It turns out that the porters had actually held the door open, thinking they were taking the desk away for repairs!

"In one of our North East hotels we have a conference room called the Lowry suite, with reproduction Lowry paintings on the walls.

"One guest nicked the lot, obviously thinking they were originals."

And guests at Copthorne hotels, have even more unusual tastes.

Marketing manager David Curtis- Brignell said: "We get lots of loo brushes stolen, but we do have some very stylish ones! And bathroom taps too . . . today's thieves must come very well-equipped."

He added: "We had a four foot-long plastic crocodile stolen from one of our themed bars.

"And trees, barbecues and potted plants have all gone missing from our hotel on Newcastle's Quayside.

"One greedy guest even stole a cheese sandwich from the housekeeper's office."

But while cheeky customers are getting more ambitious about their "free perks", it seems they are sometimes prone to pangs of guilt.

David added: "The plastic crocodile mysteriously returned a few days later, and a woman sent a letter of apology and cheque for a vase stolen two years before."

At the North's newest swanky hotel, the Hilton Newcastle Gateshead, staff there were pleased to report that, so far, their honest clientele haven't snaf- fled a thing since the opening a month ago.

Meanwhile, at the Malmaison, guests limit their light-fingered antics to the bare necessities.

A spokesman said: "We are quite lucky in that we don't get a lot nicked.

"But we did go through a stage of having loads and loads of loo rolls nicked from the toilets."